Did Democrats Once Support Border Wall?

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney made an apples-to-oranges comparison when he said he couldn’t understand why Democrats opposed supplemental funding for a border wall since many of them were for it back in 2006.

Mulvaney is referring to the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which called for construction of 700 miles of fencing and enhanced surveillance technology, such as unmanned drones, ground-based sensors, satellites, radar coverage and cameras. Sen. Chuck Schumer and then-Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were among a bipartisan majority that voted in favor of the legislation, and it was signed into law by President George W. Bush.

In a very general sense, the Democrats named by Mulvaney supported a bill to build more border fencing in 2006, and Trump is now asking for money to build a wall and fencing.

But the scope and political context of the two efforts are quite different.

Mulvaney raised the comparison during an interview on “” on April 23, when he was asked if last year that funds the government at its current levels only until April 28. A new funding bill needs to be passed by that deadline to avert a partial government shutdown, which  many government services and agencies except for essential functions like the military, federal prisons and air traffic control.